The Seven Archangels

20 - I Spy with My Big Eye... - Percy

It didn't take us long to get information about this place. Turns out, these "tough" guys where tough only on the outside and Aurelius seemed to be pretty menacing if he wanted to. I was glad he was on my side.

The city was called Paratiró, observe. It fitted the atmosphere well, a little too well in my opinion. Originally this was socially the center of the universe, a peaceful place where people came to meet each other and enroll to the army or join some peddlers on their journeys throughout the universe.

A millennium ago this place started to change. Slowly but surely people wanted more power and the whole planet became polarized. This city was still the least corrupted place and even this was divided into two sectors. The planet was divided into three departments.

This was the second one, the "neutral" ground. Or at least as neutral as it can be on this planet. Everyone was welcome here, as far as they stayed on their own sectors. The first one was for the nobility, or that's what they called themselves. They didn't work and didn't have to pay for anything.

The last sector was for the disadvantaged and poor. They worked and provided the supplies for the whole planet. The system was pretty unfair and it seemed to be rooted deep in the social structure. It would definitely be a challenge to change it.

Aurelius had been also right about the tracking. Everyone on this planet was supposed to have an identification chip implanted underneath the skin of their neck. The chip would contain everything about you, your social status, your heritage, your DNA, your ancestors, your family, everything you could think of. Everyone who didn't have that chip had the choice to either be executed the instant or take the chip and be a slave for the rest of their lives. Death seemed to be the better option.

We also heard some rumors that seemed to be too wild to be true. Most concerned a mystical statue, hidden somewhere deep in the vaults. Nobody seemed to know whether the rumor had anything behind it or not. According to the legend, the statue was supposed to hold the answer and key to peace and equity.

Now we were walking through the suburb disguised as completely different people. We didn't want to take any risks. "Did you really have to show-off like that? And since when were you so strong?" I asked. Aurelius looked at me grinning and said, "Like you are the one to talk. You are way stronger than I am in physical strength. If I remember correctly it was you who ripped an ancestor in half using only your muscles when it described Gabriel as 'a pretty hussy' and tried to grab her. I don't even want to know why ancestors had prostitutes when they already were male and female in the same body." Aurelius shuddered.

I blushed and said, "That was completely different. The ancestor had it coming." Aurelius nodded, still smirking, and said, "Indeed it had. I think we should set up a camp somewhere near the walls of the first sector. I want to try some things at night. That barrier looks suspiciously like the one we went clean through on our way here."

We also learned that the dome-like barrier was called megálo máti, big eye. Everything here seemed to be named after a feature or attribute it had. I had an inkling of why it was called that but decided to keep my mouth shut. If my idea was correct then it probably wasn't the best idea to talk about it.

The night came and had just eaten, readying to do something we probably would regret later on. "You'll stay here, just in case. It is nighttime and I'm not my strongest now so we probably shouldn't risk it by trying to smuggle two powerful beings through it at once," Aurelius said.

I nodded even though I didn't want him to go alone. I didn't exactly like the idea of him possibly getting himself captured and me being all alone on another planet. "Just be careful. As much as I hate you I still don't want to face the wrath of Sierra," I joked.

Aurelius did a mock salute and started to run towards the wall. He had a black stealth cloak on instead of his usual white. His thermoitium sword hang from his waist and he had two throwing knives strapped to his chest. Overall, he looked like an assassin.

When he was a couple of feet away from the wall he jumped up and ran along the wall. Not after long he had reached the top and he was sitting there, showing a thumbs-up to show he was fine. He couldn't see me because he had given me a little enchanted stone which would hide everything within fifty feet from sight. Even he couldn't see through it.

He ran a little farther along the wall, just in case something would happen when he touched the barrier. After a hundred feet he stopped and threw a small pebble. It hit the wall and bounced back with a hiss. Aurelius nodded and slowly made his way closer to the wall.

He seemed to concentrate and he vanished from sight.

That happened three weeks ago.

I had been pacing in the planning room, frantically trying to come up with something. I didn't have the powers to make visions so I couldn't just fake things and walk through the main gate in the suburb. I knew I should've seen this coming. I had that slight nagging feeling in the back of my head like something will go horribly wrong.

As a demigod, I had learnt to trust my instincts but with Aurelius I always went with his plans. I knew he had tried to get me into participating in choice making and developing plans, probably to prepare me for situations like this. Or he just didn't want to be the leader anymore, which also was probable. I took my backpack and tent and made my way towards the suburb.

I had spent these three weeks either training, which didn't really serve any practical purpose since I had fought for millennia before this and knew pretty much everything about weapons, or gathering information in the suburbs.

I had memorized the patterns the soldiers had and what each of them was called. The old Percy would've never been able to sit still for so long but I wasn't him anymore, I was Archangel Raphael now. Or I had always been, my ADHD and dyslexia just vanished when the effects of godly blood lessened as we distanced ourselves from Earth.

I decided to strike if I heard nothing of Aurelius for the next week. I knew he was alive, I just knew. Aurelius had told me about the connection we all shared.

I sat in a bush, the invisibility stone deployed on the ground. Sadly, the invisibility was anchored to the place it was deployed on so I couldn't just sneak in using it. I would have to leave the stone behind and I doubt Aurelius would be happy about that, the stone was rare and extremely useful.

I extended my senses using the water vapor in the air let the vibrations come to me. It was quite neat to be able to hear the vibrations in the air. After all, speech was only vibrations and pressure differences. Some kind of orangish barrier shimmered in the gates, blocking the vapor from going through. It was really annoying, not being able to hear or see inside, other than what I could see through the translucent barrier.

Something about what one of the soldiers said perked my interest. He spoke in hushed voice and seemed to be slightly panicked. He mentioned a black ghost or a shadow wandering around the city and killing soldiers. Just last night three generals from the fifth watch had died. There were seemingly no injuries or anything out of the ordinary on them, they had just died. The best doctors and experts were working on them, trying to get to the bottom of this.

I knew Aurelius could've done this but somethingabout it just seemed off. Aurelius was light, not darkness and shadows. He wouldn't just kill people either, he always had a reason. The only option left was that a third party had joined this party.